Heard or overheard at last night’s poker party, as well as today at lunch:

• More on the CRI buy … I’m hearing that Manpower approached CRI for its domestic RPO prowess (as opposed to CRI having been out trying to find a buyer), and that CRI got an offer it couldn’t refuse. I’m also hearing that some back-office type of positions (such as payroll) will be eliminated, but the company will generally be brought over intact. A Manpower rep has told my co-worker Elaine Rigoli otherwise, that no one will be laid off (although that would very much surprise me if a company of Manpower’s size would in the long run keep all of CRI’s administrative employees).
• NAS is doing some new branding work for Columbia Sportswear and some recruitment strategy work for P.F. Chang’s. NAS is hoping to do work on the career websites of both companies in the future.
• Meanwhile, this Friday, a team of about a half-dozen people from Bayard Advertising will be in Colorado with a new client, Sports Authority.
• Joshua Akers, who’d been working with Bill Warren at DirectEmployers, is now involved in a soon-to-launch (about three weeks from now) community for the life-sciences industry. The site will feature career information and jobs, training, and online networking, and will appropriately be called Beaker.